http://www.guardian.co.u
k/politics/2010/apr/19/marriage-not-help-child-development

Marriage does little for child development, study finds

Rachel Williams guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 April 2010

Conservative plans to give tax breaks to couples who are married would have little affect on the development of children. This shows in a study released today. It states that the development of children who have married parents is not better than of children who have parents that cohabit. The number of children born without married parents has raised up to 30% in the past 25 years. The study concluded there is a ruggedly academic and political debate on whether encouraging couples to marry will be a better environment for children. Although other studies show that there are slight differences this study states that there are no longer any statistically significant differences in child outcomes between children of married and cohabiting parents.

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There are several studies on this subject all shown different results. I do believe that there is a difference in growing up in a family with married parents. Not that there is anything wrong with cohabiting parents. I think that children have a different experience growing up in a family with married parents. Whether this experience is for the better or worse I do not know but I do believe there is a difference. I think marriage is not to be taken lightly as many people do looking at the divorce rates of the last couple of years. To get married but not believe in it just to get a tax break sounds incomprehensible and silly to me.